Ah! that satisfying fashion parade that is the annual Winter Antique Show. Is there any nicer party in the city? Are the people, flowers or antiques and artwork, collected and put on display at the armory surpassed anywhere for loveliness or rarity?
Circa 1938: Commode, with floral marquetry of rosewood and mother-of-pearl by eboniste Jules Leleu.
In the booth of the Geoffrey Diner Gallery, is the most wonderful fire screen from 1905. Made from gold-patinated wrought iron, en-framing favrile glass, it's every bit as dynamic as work done by Louis Comfort Tiffany for Henry Osborne Havemeyer's house. Supplied by the masterful Tiffany Studios for a house in the mid-west, surely it is well worth the princely price tag of $2,000,000.
A silvered fire-back.
As in years past, just as one enters, front and center in the cavernous hall of the armory, is the Winter Antique Show's enlightening loan exhibition. “Newport: The Glamour of Ornament,” was mounted under the auspices of the Preservation Society of Newport County. The installation was overseen by the society's able and handsome Director of Museum Affairs, John R. Tschirch, who also supervises the extraordinary historic houses they maintain as museums.
1895: Jules Allard & Sons, gilded oak side chair. It is part of a suite of 24 pieces of furniture, custom-made in Paris for the Newport Summer residence of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Breakers.
Among the arresting treasures brought to New York to dispel local ennui and diffidence, is Giovanni Boldini’s luscious full-length portrait of Elizabeth Drexel Lehr, who later in life, on marrying the Irish peer, John Graham Hope de la Poer Beresford, 5th Baron Decies, became Lady Decies.
Undeniably a beauty, with time she evolved into the self-satisfied dowager seen above, on the right, immortalized by Weegee in his notorious photograph, The Critic. Who was she really?
"Bessie" was instantaneously captivated when Edith Gould introduced her to amusing Harry Symes Lehr. Tactful, but entertaining, the bachelor from Baltimore had a decided flair for drawing out unsuspected talents or any mild irreverence latent in others. Son of a once-well-off tobacco importer, like fellow southerner Ward McAllister he had assiduously made entertaining rich people and identifying what was fashionable or not, into his entire career.
"I went to Wetzels and ...did the very best I could to hide how it bored me. Oh, if only I could wear ladies' clothes; all silks and dainty petticoats and laces, how I should love to choose them. I love shopping even for my wife..."
Harry Symes Lehr dressed to entertain at a party of the affluent, who as now, having greater options than most, are often bored. Ordinarily, Lehr only led the cotillion.
Circa 1898.
Alluringly gowned in rose colored brocade, adorned by a new diamond brooch, she had ordered the dining room, and her bedroom in their large suite, filled with highly fragrant sheaves of crimson roses. Caviar, quails in aspic, champagne, cigars, she omitted nothing that might contribute to a night of sheer bliss.
1901.
After a courtship of perpetual pleasantries, solicitations and endearments, Bessie summoned to Harry's room was callously informed, that he had married her solely for her money, that he did not and never would love her, that she, like all women was indeed physically repulsive to him. Stunned, his bride recoiled, but with scant empathy from the now secure Harry.
"After all," he had stated coolly, "Have you so much to complain of? At least I am being honest with you. How many men in New York, how many among our own friends, if it comes to that, have entered their wives' rooms on their wedding night with exactly my state of mind?"
According to Elizabeth Lehr, this painting of Robert Gould Shaw, II, depicted as 'Little Billie' from George du Maurier's 1894 novel 'Trilby', by Harper Pennington, hung in Harry Lehr's room.
1908!
Fashion plate Jean Shafiroff strikes a pose beside a silk ball gown by Charles Frederick Worth, brocaded with peonies, it was made for Ella King in 1890
Relatively few wore fur to the Antique Show. But those who did, did so magnificently.
Barbara Regna.
By contrast many ladies wore spectacular coats, few more diverting than the white dotted silk coat worn by Wendy Goodman, the Design Editor of New York Magazine and the Design Council chair of the antique show's Young Collectors Night. Finishing off her fine raiment Wendy wore a group of antique star brooches.
Lesley Hill's long coat was fashioned from heavy embroidered silk from India.
Ms. Lesley Hill, a principal of Hill-Stone.
Ce Ce Black's low-cut coat was made of iridescent metallic brocade with a pattern of leaves.
Ce Ce Black.
One jacket was covered with roses made of ruched ribbon.
Eaddo Kiernan's black coat was bespriged by roses embroidered with tiny glass beads.
Eaddo Kiernan.
Susan Magrino's evening coat was richly brocaded with golden thread.
Susan Magrino.
There were two coats of silk damask that I spotted. Some were composed of elaborately pleated pieces of silk.
One fantastic coat was spangled with pined-on buttons.
There were a number of coats with brilliantly colored embroideries.
Some ladies had only blouses, one was trimmed with bits of mirror, another, of Indian mull, was shot with gold!
Thanks to our First Lady's influence, belted bodices were on view.
One of the most charming gowns I noticed was a simple red frock tied with a black ribbon as a sash.
Another dress was printed with peacock feathers. While another frock had a coat emblazoned with a peacock.
Some dresses shimmered.
Others, did not. The one below had a satin stripe on both sides like a man's evening trousers.
The sole decoration of one black dress, was a big pink dot!
Black and pale pink were also effectively juxtaposed for the sophisticated ensemble below with ribbons drawn through the hem of the skirt.
Some dresses were long, but not most.
Some had lace and interesting backs. Men dared not to compete with such daring, except for Larry Bentley, naturally.
Neckties or scarves were how most gentlemen stood out.
To enliven his evening clothes Julius Debruhl Lewis wore an antique brooch. To serve much the same purpose his friend choose a red pocket handkerchief.
There were, it seemed, as many bow ties, as there were four-in-hands, but few Windsor knots. Famed for his paintings of neo-Classical nudes and allegories, John Kelley sported a regimental stripped, four-in-hand necktie, as opposed to his friend, Christopher Petkanas's dotted bow.
Apart from such fabulous finery, another real joy of the antique show is encountering the great and good one most admires. There are innumerable people in this category in New York, figures quite unknown by many, who loom, to some, as worthies of the first order. Happening upon Boy Fenwick, John Kelly, Reggie Darling, Pauline Metcalf or Christopher Petkanas, is a treat indeed; if one appreciates colorful and creative interior design, informed by the best precedent, beautiful, academically polished, but cerebral art, or well-crafted, wryly discerning writing.
Christopher Petkanas.
His illustrious book, Parish-Hadley: Sixty Years of American Design, is certainly a tribute to Mr. Petkanas. So are his memorable, elegiac explorations of French culture, tastes and manners, ostensibly, discourses on food. It was Christopher Petkanas daring to suggest, that the late Mark Hampton might have been sometimes banal, as well as derivative, his stating the obvious: that though long married, to a woman, and a father, that, he was gay and closeted, which made him even heroic. He has that Capote-like courage to risk offending those who know him best, to say both what’s obvious, but unsaid, to reveal the unknown and counterintuitive. Moreover, he does so with skill as well as with humor and so, is admirable in the extreme.
Christopher Petkanas, dressed in tweeds, wears a dotted bow, his friend John Kelley sports a regimental stripped necktie.
At least a couple fellows , including interior designer James Andrew, wore gray checked suits, with corresponding shirts and cravats. It recalled to me, the young Cecil Beaton warning Noel Coward, how, 'although he loved a good match, that too careful a coordination of his clothes as to color, pattern and texture was liable to have him labeled as queer.' It also brought to mind how, 100 years ago, tweeds or checked suits were deem only suitable for country wear. By the 1920's this too had changed, but for a long time afterward, one would not have worn a checked lounge suit to a wedding in the city, or to an evening reception.
Interior designer James Andrew.
Mario Buatta wore a Windsor knotted necktie and a scarf as well.
Most others opted for a single choice.
Michael Arguello with David Giffin.
Some sported great spectacles, but no others were as special as those immediately below.
Some sported stand-out hair. But most preferred fitting in, and were blond.
There were some grand earnings.
Courtney Booth.
Some nice rings were seen.
There were lovely brooches too, but not quite like this.
Fernanda Kellog.
Pauline Metcalf.
Handsome bracelets and watches were much in evidence.
This bracelet was best.
Most of all, stunning necklaces, mostly paste, were the fashion statement of this year's antique show.
Lauren Chisholm. An accomplished goldsmith, naturally, Ms. Chisholm made the sunray necklace she wore.
Georgina Schaeffer.
As ever, shoes of serious beauty characterized the height of fashion.
One lady in attendance sales attachments that prevent stiletto heels from sinking into earth and cracks.
Shoes showing off one's legs were popular.
As it was quite a cold night for each gala there were a certain number of people who wore boots.
Many others however would have been doomed to exposure in a snow drift.
Some heels were high enough to add an entire extra foot to the wearer's stature it seemed.
There are always monogrammed or crested velvet slip-ons at the antique show dos.
Faux Leopard is fashionable...
As is going sock-less, for some. Thanks to bold colored appliques on his trousers, Demolition Depot owner Evan Blum is always easy to spot.
Then too, there are those few, who with all they wear and with every gesture, are in a class by themselves so far as style goes.
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